Concept of Substance in Contemporary Analytic Metaphysics

 With the rise of modern philosophies and after the 16th century, early philosophers' approach to the analysis of the "substance" of things was abandoned and replaced by an accidental and phenomenological analysis of objects. It was John Lock who for the first time, through propounding "nominal essence", introduced the object as a collection of some ideas (mental phenomena), which inevitably requires a "basis" as a carrier and supporter of these ideas. By adopting this approach, of course with a transcendental content, Kant clarified the assumption of the substance supporting qualities and accidents as a mental receptacle. This approach, that is, the collection of qualities along with a basis, was one of the dominant approaches in contemporary and modern philosophies, until the opponents of "basis", by claiming that the assumption of "basis" as an unknown being is unfounded and irrational, introduced the object as merely consisting of a collection of accidents. According to this group, these qualities are universal beings; therefore, this approach has become known as the theory of the "collection of universals" or the "classical theory". Apart from these two theories, the theory of the "collection of particular qualities" and the theory of "Aristotelian light" are among the others posed by contemporary analytic philosophers.

The book Concept of Substance in Contemporary Analytic Metaphysics has been written by Reza Mahuzi and published by the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Institute. It intends to introduce the above approaches in contemporary analytic metaphysics and, after analyzing and pinpointing the strengths and weak points of each, present a substitute for them in order to clarify the ontological structure of things.